Flooding Capitol Hill

Republicans cave to the Realtors on taxpayer flood insurance.

Updated Feb. 26, 2014 7:20 p.m. ET

Bipartisan achievements have been rare since Republicans took the House in 2010, but one of them was the 2012 reform of federal flood insurance. A mere two years later, House Republicans want to abandon their work and expand the middle-class subsidy on the backs of taxpayers. Where's the tea party when you really need them?

The goal of the Biggert-Waters reform of 2012 was to require that property owners gradually adjust to paying actuarially sound rates for taxpayer-backed flood insurance. Millions of Americans have long...